


The Comeback Kid

by meet_me_onthe_equinox



Category: Parks and Recreation, parks and rec
Genre: Ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 14:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10992402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meet_me_onthe_equinox/pseuds/meet_me_onthe_equinox
Summary: Andy goes back to his hometown and finds someone quite... special.





	The Comeback Kid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [opti](https://archiveofourown.org/users/opti/gifts).



> Requested by anotheropti on Tumblr as a ghost/living person AU :)

There is something quite nostalgic about going back home after so many years. How many exactly, Andy had never bothered to count. Time had always been a complex thing for him, and so he would never give much thought to it. But it must have been a while anyway, because the last time Andy set foot in Pawnee, his feet were way smaller.

Andy’s agenda wasn’t much full that morning. In fact, his only plan was to randomly stroll down those old, familiar streets without any particular destination. The funny thing was, there was always a cool memory associated with each spot he visited, so whatever path he chose would be interesting enough.

He kept walking even when the sun turned red, menacing to stop providing the light he so much needed to make that walk last for as long as possible. But the streets went dimmer, and the fact that Andy was already heading to the creepiest, most dangerous part of the town didn’t help either.

‘‘Oh,’’ Andy said to himself. ‘‘I do remember this.’’

Another load of childhood memories came to him; he could almost picture a ten-year-old version of himself, messing around with his friends in the Warehouse district. Even then, the place was sordid enough to make a daring group of tweens want to go there for a thrill. They would break into those dingy, abandoned houses looking for ghosts, vampires, and all kinds of monsters. Except the vampires turned out to be just bats, and gigantic spiders were the scariest creature they ever found there. As for ghosts, the gang would hear eerie sounds indeed: stairs creaking, a door violently slammed by an air stream… To them, that was sufficient evidence that the district was haunted.

Andy chuckled at the idea. People still thought of him as a huge kid; most times they couldn’t see past that childish spirit of his and would take advantage of him, or just saw him as a grade-A dummy. Yet, there was no way he could still believe in ghosts. Infantile or not, he’d grown up. And there were some handicaps to it.

That sudden realization turned the memory blue, just like in that movie. It was night already, and the streetlights didn’t live up to their name. Only the full moon up there was in charge of lightening the pavement. But adults fear nothing, and Andy thought that was just as good of a place as any other to take a rest. He sat on the front porch stairs of what seemed to be a pretty big house, or at least it had been at some point. Now it was just another run-down facade with probably one or two pieces of furniture on the inside, and little else.

But Andy barely paid attention to the building itself. He was rather lost in thought by then, his gaze fixed on the ground. Being aware of his own age (okay, he was only twenty-nine but still) made him miss his old friends even more, especially his brother. He was their leader back then, as the non-spoken rules of children’s friendships had stablished, and being his little brother had endless perks. Now none of them were around, and suddenly Pawnee seemed to him like a much sadder place.

With a heavy sigh, Andy lifted his head, wondering if he should go back home already. But a strange figure standing on the sidewalk caught his eye before he could make any decision. It was an old man wearing a baseball cap of a team Andy didn’t recognize. And he loved baseball. As for the rest of his clothes, the guy pretty much looked like a janitor. The man was extremely pale, wrinkles all over his face that multiplied when he smiled at Andy, showing a full set of yellow teeth. He was holding a rake, and used his free hand to wave towards the steps Andy was sitting on.

Andy responded, though vaguely. Now that he thought about it, that man had been the first and only person he’d come across ever since he left Pawnee’s inhabited area.

‘‘Do you wanna come in or are you gonna stay there all night?’’

Startled, Andy turned around with a quick move, since it for sure wasn’t the janitor that had spoken. It was a woman’s voice coming from behind, from that spooky house door. It was dark inside, so Andy could barely see the girl’s face. From her silhouette, though, he could tell she was small, slender, and probably quite young, but definitely not a child.

‘‘C’mon,’’ she called. ‘‘It’s probably getting cold out there.’’

Without a second thought, Andy stood up and walked towards her, as if that was something he just _had_ to do. Andy checked his surroundings one last time, only to find the janitor was nowhere to be found. Still a bit freaked out, he followed that girl inside and hoped for the best.

* * *

Her name was April. Her skin, olive, yet somewhat dull. Her clothes were black; her outfit was always the same. Her voice would fluctuate between high and very low pitched depending on how excited she was. But there was no in between. She’d run away from home about three years ago, she wouldn’t explain Andy why. Now she lived in that gruesome house that, as she told him the night they first met, had once been a holding cell for people who went insane on the assembly line of a nearby doll head factory. And, between jobs, she got by.

Andy was so glad to have found such a cool friend, especially since all his old friends were either sleeping forever or barely doing so, carrying suitcases around cities that would never sleep. But April was awesome enough to make him forget about everything he had lost. They would hang out at her place and, even though they couldn’t watch movies or play video games (there was no electricity in that part of the town), they could talk forever and never run out of conversation. Plus, there was a fire pole and a staircase to nowhere. What else could you ask for?

Another game they loved to play was hide and seek (because no, he didn’t have to be an adult around her). The problem was, no matter how many corners, wardrobes and secret rooms Andy looked in, he would never find her. It wasn’t until he surrendered and admitted her victory that April would come out of nowhere and ask him to hide.

Yes, spending time with April was the best, and so was she. Coming over to her house every afternoon was now Andy’s routine, and he loved it. Of course he knew he would have to come back to Washington D.C. at some point, but that would be later. And _later_ was another abstract concept he wasn’t much interested in. Plus, the thought of saying goodbye to her… It just got more painful every day, so he shrugged it off.

 

‘‘You’re late,’’ April said from one of the upper windows as soon as she saw Andy approaching the front door. By the way she was smiling at him, one could say his lack of punctuality hadn’t upset her much.

‘‘Am I?’’

He walked faster, though not before saying hi to the janitor. The older man waved back with his yellow smile, but that didn’t send chills up Andy’s spine anymore. Andy could tell he was a nice guy even though they’d never actually spoken. After that, he dashed inside.

Once in the hall, April greeted him with a quite affectionate hug. She must have really missed him, because they’d never hugged before. And yet… he felt nothing. It was like hugging the air. And not only was he missing her touch: there was no warmth coming from her skin; he couldn’t even smell her. It was as though April wasn’t even real, as if she was a…

No. Ghosts didn’t exist, right? The noises they’d often hear when they were kids were just… No, that couldn’t be. Except April was strange indeed. She was cool in all her weirdness, but it was the kind of weird that should have creeped him out. He’d been just too distracted by all the fun they were having together. But that vacant embrace was putting things in perspective.

For instance, there was no way April could have climbed down the stairs in the time it took him to get there from the sidewalk. Plus, her hide and seek tricks were not from this world. Then it was the fact that she would always wear the same clothes; her paleness contrasted strongly with all the black on her. And, something that Andy should probably have noticed long ago, she’d never eat. Not once had they ordered pizza just like true friends are supposed to do.

‘‘What’s wrong?’’ April asked when they broke apart.

‘‘No… Nothing,’’ he mumbled.

‘‘Andy…’’

He could _feel_ her gaze piercing his face, forcing him to make eye contact with her. And when he finally looked into those huge eyes… Well, there was something intimidating about them. Andy was used to the way she always seemed to read him like an open book, but this was different. For the first time ever, he felt scared, unsafe around her.

‘‘It’s just…’’ he began. ‘‘Man, this is gonna sound dumb, but…’’

‘‘What?’’

‘‘Are you…? Well, are you a ghost or something?’’

Of all her possible reactions, April bursting into laughter was probably the one Andy least expected. Yes, it was dumb – regardless of this long vacation, that was still the real world. But April was probably the only person who had never laughed at him. Besides Adam, that is.

‘‘Okay, stop laughing at me!’’ Andy frowned.

‘‘I’m not laughing at you,’’ she held out a hand, reaching for his, but Andy stepped back before she even skimmed his skin. ‘‘You really don’t know?’’

‘‘Know what?’’

‘‘Andy. _You_ are the ghost.’’

‘‘What? No, that doesn’t make any sense. It’s you who’s been weird the whole time!’’

‘‘Thank you,’’ April half smiled. ‘‘But weird how?’’

‘‘Well, for starters, how did you even get down that fast?’’

‘‘Fire pole,’’ she shrugged.

Of course. But there was more.

‘‘How come you are so good at hiding?’’

‘‘How come you are so good at singing?’’

‘‘‘Cause I’m in a band, duh,’’ Andy rolled his eyes.

‘‘No, Andy. You _were_ in a band. I know it’s hard to-’’

‘‘Why don’t you ever eat?’’

Each question was like a bomb… that would inevitably backfire. But at least it kept him from reasoning, because there was no reason in her words. There couldn’t be.

‘‘I do eat. But I know you don’t, so I’d never order anything until you left. I mean, wouldn’t it be boring just to watch me eat when we could be doing fun stuff instead?’’

As much as Andy didn’t want to listen, he couldn’t help but wonder when he’d last eaten something. But nothing came to mind.

‘‘Okay, my turn to ask,’’ April’s voice brought him back. ‘‘Can you tell me where did you come from?’’

‘‘I told you,’’ Andy rasped, and then he cleared his throat. ‘‘I’ve been living in D.C. for-’’

‘‘No,’’ she cut him off. ‘‘I mean, here, in Pawnee. Where are you staying? Where do you spend the nights? You always leave at midnight. Where do you go from here? Where did you come from just now?’’

‘‘Okay, stop it! Please.’’

He needed time to process, and thankfully, April understood. The silence allowed him to concentrate. The truth was, he had no answers for her many questions. Meanwhile, she had responded to each and every one of his, and as much as it hurt to admit, things were starting to make sense.

‘‘What about your clothes?’’ he asked, desperate to find at least one gap in her argument.

‘‘What about them?’’

‘‘Why are they always, you know, the same?’’

‘‘I like them,’’ April shrugged again. ‘‘They look great with the white powder,’’ she pointed at her own face.

Andy sighed deeply, defeated. He would have sat on the floor, or leaned against the wall for balance, but he didn’t really _need_ it.

‘‘How did you know? I mean, you’ve known it all this time?’’

‘‘Yes, but I thought you knew, too. I realized the first night we met.’’

‘‘Why?’’

‘‘Because you could see Randy.’’

‘‘The janitor?’’

‘‘Yes. Ghosts can see each other,’’ Andy opened his mouth, but she went on before he could say anything. ‘‘I’m a medium. So yeah, I’ve had my fair share of your kind.’’

‘‘Oh.’’

‘‘Yup…’’

She gave him another chunk of silence, some more time so the whole conversation sank in. Had Andy had a physical brain, it’d probably have exploded.

‘‘How did I die?’’

‘‘I don’t know. Normally people… Well, ghosts tell me. But you don’t seem to have any memories of it. It probably happened in Washington, and then you came here.’’

‘‘Because it was my hometown?’’

‘‘Maybe,’’ April nodded. ‘‘Or maybe you still have some unfinished business.’’

Andy mulled it over for a second. What could Pawnee have that was so important? What was still there, keeping him from moving on to whatever was next?

‘‘I don’t know…’’ he sighed.

‘‘Isn’t there someone you still need to talk to or something?’’

Someone. He’d been asking himself the wrong questions. And he knew exactly _who_ was holding him back.

‘‘Adam,’’ Andy muttered.

‘‘Who?’’

‘‘My brother. We… had a fight, like, a huge one. That’s why I moved to Washington. We haven’t spoken for years.’’

‘‘Yeah, that sounds familiar.’’

Now it was April who’d gone into a faraway reverie. Andy knew she was thinking about her parents. Whatever happened between them had also been bad enough to make her move away as well.

‘‘Anyway,’’ April focused on him again. ‘‘Now you regret it, don’t you?’’

‘‘Yeah… Man, you are so pro at ghost stuff!’’

And just like that, in that bleak hall and in spite of the whole situation, they both started laughing. Their laughter echoed off the rotten walls, making the wood creak all over the house.

‘‘D’you know where he lives?’’ April asked afterwards.

‘‘Hmm, yeah. But I can’t talk to him, remember? He won’t even see me.’’

‘‘Well,’’ she fake pondered it for a moment, ‘‘he _will_ see me, right?’’

April really knew what she was doing. In fact, she’d seemed in control ever since Andy entered the house that day. She obviously had a lot of experience with ghosts; it almost seemed like a game to her. And, for some reason, that made Andy feel kind of sad.

‘‘What?’’ April read him once more. ‘‘Don’t you wanna go find him?’’

‘‘No, I do. It’s not that.’’

‘‘Then what is it?’’

Andy averted his gaze. ‘‘Do you do this for every ghost who asks for help?’’

‘‘Nah,’’ April waved her hand. ‘‘Only for the ones I like.’’

Her smile felt as reassuring as her words. Andy let her took his hand, even though neither of them could feel each other’s touch, and followed her outside. They saw Randy, of course, who kept sweeping leaves that weren’t there. And maybe, just maybe, he wished them good luck.


End file.
